Review: NYX HD Concealer

Disclaimer: Links with a “*” beside them are affiliate links, and are purposely set so that Hollypop can potentially be supported.

A product I’ve been sitting around waiting to review for some time is one I plan to talk about today. This has been my on-the-go concealer for at least the past eight months. This is the NYX HD Concealer, which I own in the shade “CW 01 Porcelain“, which to my understanding, is the lightest shade in the range. Yes, I’m quite pale. I bought mine at my local Boots, for £6.00, which I don’t think is an unreasonable price for a drugstore product.

So what does this product claim? Well, to paraphrase from the summary on Boot’s website, this concealer is light-weight, capable of covering up imperfections, discolouration and dark circles, while not being cakey or obvious. So these are the things I want to discuss right away.

Off the bat, I will say that I’m not sure I agree this is ‘light weight’ by my personal standards for concealers. I typically have two concealers open at a time, where this is my slightly heavier concealer, and my light-weight concealer right now is the E.L.F. Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter (although I don’t really use the highlighter end), as it’s almost water-thin. However, I can accept that for anyone who does wear more makeup than I do – which as of late has been none – this is on the lighter weight end of the spectrum compared to other concealers which are extremely heavy. For anyone who has used the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, this product here, you will understand this is on the heavy-duty end of the concealer spectrum. The NYX concealer in comparison is definitely lighter than this product, which for me, is a plus, but at the same time, isn’t super light if you’re more of a ‘natural’ makeup style person like myself.

As for covering up perfections, I feel like for once I was prepared enough as I took a photo of myself without any other makeup on except this concealer, which you can see above. So, no powder on either, during what I consider to be a bad skin day. I will say now, I do not use this under my eyes, as it’s too heavy for my sensitive skin to do that. I was also especially sensitive as this was the day after the UK had a heat wave (I do not cope with the heat) and I was struggling with a cold (irony~) so my skin was breaking out, was irritated, but on oiliness overdrive thanks to the UK’s humid and hot weather.

Back to the point, I applied this over major acne and scars, which were mostly on my chin, cheeks and random areas on my nose and central forehead area. I think the coverage is pretty good, although the photo is deceiving, since for once, it hid more than it revealed.

From the photo, I do find myself agreeing with the product’s claims that it isn’t particularly obvious, and during the first few hours post-application, it doesn’t look cakey. However, oily skinned individuals will want to keep tabs on this throughout the day as it will start to look cakey or like it’s breaking down if not blotted or touched up with powder. I don’t think this should put you off too much for this product though as I find this happens with other concealers as well.

As for colour-matching, I will admit that this isn’t 100% right for my skin tone. It’s slightly too dark, but I find that blending this out enough makes it more forgiving. I can’t blame NYX entirely for this, I have this issue with every brand of makeup under the sun that I’ve tried so far. I’m simply in the category of customers who fit into ‘niche’ skin tones that cosmetic companies don’t accompany for right now, or at least, not affordably. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to spend £20-50 on a concealer as I simply don’t have that kind of budget. Honestly, it’s the only thing that makes me reconsider repurchasing in the future, as I otherwise find this product worth the £6.00 price tag. For now though, I have more concealers to try out when I use this up, so for now, I won’t be sinking anymore money. I think for anyone who doesn’t have issues finding the right shades, this range of concealers is worth the lookout as it is a great quality product, in my opinion. For this reason, I will drop an* affiliate link * for my shade, if you are interested.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review, it really means the world to me to receive your support. I’m looking forward to the weather and my skin to settle down as I’m currently avoiding wearing makeup while my skin is struggling. However, I have a few different posts planned, so when I have the right images and information ready, I look forward to writing and posting them.